Why The ‘Blue Slip’ Battles Are Becoming White Hot

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., look to Attorney General Jeff Sessions as he testifies before the committee in October. (AP)

In January, when the Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s Eighth Circuit nominee, it did so over distress sirens from Democrats.

David Stras, the former Minnesota Supreme Court justice, became the first federal judge in nearly 30 years to take the bench without both “blue slips,” which allow home-state senators to stall or advance a judicial nominee. The vote...